THE PREFACE. THE Preface is very nearly of the same character as the Dedication. It assigns a sufficient reason for the publication of these Letters, in one collection, under the authority of their Author. It endeavours to transfer the literary property of them to Mr. Woodfull, by a conveyance which, though it might be respected by the public, could not, under the circumstances in which it was granted, prove effectual in law. It enumerates the contents of the Letters; mentions the order of their publication; and explains, why the Author had thought it necessary to subscribe, sometimes, the signature of PHILO JUNIUS, rather than JUNIUS. The subsequent parts of it are employed, in recapitulating some leading principles from the Letters; in strengthening them by new argument; in pursuing them through new applications; in rousing passion and prejudice, to aid argument in their favour. The boldest use of the liberty of the press is defended, by mentioning abuse as inseparable even from the best of human things; by pointing out the redress offered by the law to those who may have been injured by wanton libel; by insisting that, for the safety of the constitution, the public ought to be ever free to exercise, through the press, the most jealous and severe censorial authority over the whole conduct, public and private, of magistrates and ministers. The right of juries to judge both of fact and law, is on account of its connexion with the freedom of the press, and with the very stamina of constitutional liberty, zealously maintained. Lord Mansfield, as the great adversary of this doctrine, is fiercely arraigned. The Author descends into an anxious particularity and detail of argument; which seem to shew that, in regard to the point of law, he was not quite sure of having convinced himself. The English and the Scots had not, even then, sufficiently intermingled into one people: and JUNIUS, in his English zeal, scruples not to spirit up and inflame prejudices against the Scots, which the conduct of some Scotsmen, who had risen to invidious great ness in England, tended perhaps but too much to encourage. With almost all the lawyers and politicians who have treated of this point, JUNIUS understood not the true force, nor the true reason, of this principle-that the King can do no wrong. He takes occasion, in the course of this Preface, to deny it's force; and to apostrophise his Sovereign, in language pregnant with strong and impressive meaning, but much more eloquent than respectful. The quotation from De Lolme, with which the Preface is concluded, is not undeserving of the praise which JUNIUS bestows upon it. It not unhappily states and illustrates the irresistible power of free and enlightened public opinion, to make every government bend before it's current. THE encouragement given to a multitude of spurious, mangled publications of the Letters of JUNIUS, persuades me, that a complete edition, corrected and improved by the author, will be favourably received. The printer will readily acquit me of any view to my own profit. I undertake this troublesome task, merely to serve a man who has deserved well of me, and of the public; and who, on my account, has been exposed to an expensive, tyrannical prosecution. For these reasons, I give to Mr. HENRY SAMPSON WOODFALL, and to him alone, my right, interest, and property in these Letters, as fully and completely, to all intents and purposes, as an author can possibly convey his property in his own works to another. THIS edition contains all the Letters of JUNIUS, PHILO JUNIUS, and of Sir WILLIAM DRAPER and Mr. HORNE to JUNIUS, with their respective dates, and according to the order in which they appeared in the the Public Advertiser. The auxiliary part of PHILO JUNIUS was indispensably necessary to defend or explain particular passages in JUNIUS, in answer to plausible objections; but the subordinate character is never guilty of the indecorum of praising his principal. The fraud was innocent, and I always intended to explain it. The notes will be found not only useful, but necessary. References to facts not generally known, or allusions to the current report or opinion of the day, are in a little time unintelligible. Yet the reader will not find himself overloaded with explanations. I was not born to be a commentator, even upon my own works. It remains to say a few words upon the liberty of the press. The daring spirit, by which these Letters References to facts not generally known, or allusions to the current report or opinion of the day, are in a little time unintelligible.] These words express a well-known fact, which has long begun to appear strikingly in the fate of these Letters. The consideration of it, had a principal influence in suggesting the design of these Notes. With whatever hasty contempt JUNIUS may have spoken of Commentators, he might probably expect that his work would, one day, engage the labours of one. Nor could he deem that man to be meanly employed, who should, in this character, toil over such a book. I should suspect, by what he here says of Notes, that he intended, when he wrote this Preface, to add a greater number of those, than actually appear, under the Text, throughout these Volumes. If he had no such intention; his talk of the Notes, in this place, was certainly too operose for the very few with which he has illustrated his own Text. It remains to say a few words upon the liberty of the press.] What JUNIUS says, here, of the liberty of the press, seems in tended Letters are supposed to be distinguished, seems to require that something serious should be said in their defence. I am no lawyer by profession, nor do I pretend to be more deeply read, than every English gentleman should be, in the laws of his country. If, therefore, the principles I maintain are truly constitutional, I shall not think myself answered, though I should be convicted of a mistake in terms, or of misapplying the language of the law. I speak to the plain understanding of the people, and appeal to their honest, liberal construction of me. GOOD men, to whom alone I address myself, appear to me to consult their piety as little as their judgment and experience, when they admit the great and essential advantages accruing to society from `the 'freedom of the press, yet indulge themselves in peevish or passionate exclamations against the abuses of it. Betraying an unreasonable expectation of benefits pure, and entire, from any human institution, they in effect arraign the goodness of providence, and confess that they are dissatisfied with the common lot of humanity. In the present tended as an apology for that bold licence of invective which runs through the general tenor of these Letters. The defence is, at least, specious. Had there not been a want of energy in the government of that day, perhaps the publication of Letters so bold in personal invective, might have been checked in it's very commencement. How much would, in that case, have been lost to eloquence, and to the illustration of a period on many accounts one of the most interesting in the British history? instance |